


The Irrelevance of Time when there is an Apple Nearby

by Kayden_Witch_Vigilante



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: (hopefully), Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Anxiety, Assault, Attempt at Humor, Bill Miles is a bad dad, Bleeding Affect, Depression, Desmond Lives, Desmond is kinda (very) gay, Everyone is not happy about the Bleeding Effects, Fluff, Haytham is a better dad than Bill, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm sorry but there will be lots of pain, Inappropriate Humor, Kayden and Desmond are like siblings, Kayden is very Bi, Kinda, Major Character Injury, Major Original Character(s), Multi, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pain and Recovery, Panic Attacks, Pirates, Probably in unexpected ways, Rating May Change, Slow Build, Temporary Character Death, The Apple causes time travel, They are what the majority of the plot surrounds and affects, Time Travel Fix-It, Weird Plot Shit, Work In Progress, and summaries, i hope you all like it, lots of anxiety and it's side effects, shit will hit the fan, the slowest build possible probably, there is a high probability for romance, violence and death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2018-10-13 10:26:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10511880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayden_Witch_Vigilante/pseuds/Kayden_Witch_Vigilante
Summary: The characters from all of the current Assassin's Creed games, assassin's and templars alike (including the ones who are dead) have been thrust into the 1670's, the Golden Age of Piracy, where they must learn to put aside their difference's in their creeds and lives, and work together to overcome a new and larger threat to the world, Der Geliebte von Juno. The Beloved by Juno. As they fight this new threat, the saviors will learn the irrelevance of time and the importance of love, family, and friends, all while healing wounds form the past. And most of all, Desmond and Kayden (Desmond's best friend and sister figure) learn the importance of their sacrifice and why they did not die when Juno said that they would.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is pretty much fueled by denial, soda/caffeine, my need to see my babies happy, and fictional crack. The point of view might bounce around, and there will, hopefully, be lots of shippy material. I apologize for the randomness of this, and I will try to add a story structure along the way, but it’ll likely be a slow build (especially since I’m hand writing this before I upload it). This story does not have an editor, so all mistakes are mine. With that in mind, I will try to intersperse the sad/awful with the happy/crackish fun. Please leave reviews on what you think of this. Reviews and Kudos/Favorites are pretty much my motivation for writing anything and my life force.

*Beep beep beep*

The sound of the Animus whirling and the smell of coffee and electricity was always the first thing that Kayden heard when she finished her animus session, breaking through the dim nothingness. The other sounds, Rebecca typing and checking on Desmond and Kayden, Lucy on the phone with other Assassins, and Shaun working on strategies and talking with Lucy or other Assassins, slowly came to be recognized as Kaydens mind came back to her. The change of being herself, to her mind being someone else, to being her again was always weird. Kayden looked at Des, who was exiting his session, knowing that he felt the same, they were both just good at hiding it from the others. Lucy, Rebecca, Shaun knew that the animus drained their field assassin’s of strength and stamina, both mentally and physically, but not that it took away their sense of self, and senses. When Desmond and Kayden would exit a session, they saw in monochrome, couldn’t taste or smell, and their hearing and sense of touch was very dull. While the other three were already worried about Desmond and Kayden thanks to the Bleeding Effect, the worry was already alternating between nice and annoying. Going in between how friends should care for each other to feeling like they were being coddled. Something Desmond and Kayden hated.

“Hey there,” Rebecca said helping Kayden sit up and stay steady, before helping Des, “Easy now. You two were under for a long time. Stay seated and eat something,” she pointed in between them at the tray of foods, mostly snacks, “I'm gonna check your vitals again.”

“What's wrong with our vitals?” Desmond asked, grabbing and peeling an orange while Kayden grabbed an apple while standing, and stretched. Kayden and Desmond's’ sight was getting less fuzzy, and the colors were seeping back in and coming to life, as well as the depth and details of the objects around their safe-house.

“I don't know if there is anything wrong. The animus could be malfunctioning, or have a virus, or it could be because of how long your sessions were, but your vitals did spike a couple time.” Becca explained while checking Kaydens heart, breathing, eyes, other general vitals, and cognition. As she moved on to Desmond she started talking again. “Not to mention that a few times it looked like you both disappeared into the time frame worrying all of us, even Shaun!” Shaun made a noise of protest, interrupting his phone call in the process, while the rest of the group chuckled. Shaun then got into a brief argument about ignoring people while being on the phone, Shaun saying that was idiotic because it could get you killed, before he was able to get back to the original purpose of his phone call.

Standing up out of her Animus, Kayden alternated between watching and listening to Shaun and Lucy’s phone calls. Walking over to Desmond and leaning against his animus, Kayden did a brief check on him as well, before returning to watching the conversations and the increasingly irritated moods that Lucy and Shaun were entering.

“Who are Lucy and Shaun talking to? They both sound irritated, and Shaun looks like he’s about to have an aneurysm.” Desmond asked while snacking on some yogurt and joined Kayden in watching the one-sided conversations with amused interest.

“Huh?” Becca looked momentarily surprised at the two before turning her attention to Lucy and Shaun. “Oh. I think Lucy is talking to Bill,” Desmond grimaced at the sound of his father’s name and Kayden looked irritated, “And Shaun was talking to Glinda about an assignment in Moscow, but now he’s talking to Malkovich. They’ve been arguing over how we should try to steal and destroy some of Abstergo’s intel, so that we’ll be ahead of them by a bit. I believe that Lucy has been trying to convince Bill into letting you two have more field missions and less time in the Animus.” Desmond and Kayden both looked excited at the promise of more field work, grinning at each other hopefully.

Lucy looked at both of the master assassin’s smiling and hopeful faces. That was all the prompting she needed to redouble her efforts into talking Bill into allowing the two more time out of the Animus. That would give them the time to build up their muscles and strength while also allowing their minds to rest more often and, hopefully, healing some of the damaged caused from the Bleeding Effect.

Shaun meanwhile, had finally snapped at Malkovich, “That is the stupidest plan I have ever heard, and I bloody well don’t understand why Bill put you in charge of our Russian information center. Now, I have to go form a plan that won’t get our dwindling amount of field assassin’s killed. Thank you for bloody wasting half an hour of my time!” Hanging up on Malkovich, Shaun spun around in his chair, meeting the amused and surprised expression of Desmond and Kayden, with his own irritated and annoyed expression.

“So I take it Malkovich was being, uh, Malkovich.” Desmond finished, lamely, and Kayden made a silent promise to make fun of him for it later.

“Yes Desmond, he was being a complete, bloody idiot. However, before I was forced to talk to Malkovich before I talked to Glinda, and she had some very interesting ideas about the Animus,” Becca perked up at that, “And some ways to get into the Abstergo buildings near us for Kayden and Desmond to sneak into and steal the prototype designs of the Animus 2.5.” finished Shaun before walking to the small kitchen to make himself some tea to help calm himself down. By now Becca was vibrating with excitement at the thought of new design upgrades for her ‘baby’. Desmond and Kayden looked extremely excited to be going on a field mission.

Lucy, who had finished her phone call with Bill, was smiling at the duo. “I finished talking with Bill,” the other four members turned to look at her, “He finally agreed to give Desmond and Kayden more field missions and less time in the Animus provided, and I quote ‘If we can afford the time,’ unquote.” Kayden and Desmond quickly moved around Lucy’s desk and hugged her tightly, then they sprinted out of the room to grab their gear and prepare for their mission before being briefed.

“How two people, who aren’t psychopaths or sociopaths, at least as far as I can tell, can be so happy about killing, stealing, and likely blowing things up, I’ll never know.” Shaun commented, shaking his head and narrowly avoided Becca’s elbow that was aimed at his ribs.

“Well, we are assassin’s. Killing, stealing, and blowing things up is pretty much what we do all the time.” Desmond said, re-entering the common room with Kayden, while adjusting his hidden blade so that it wouldn’t get snagged on his clothes when he released it.

“Besides,” Kayden said, following Desmond’s train of thought, “It sure as hell beats sitting inside a machine, reliving someone else’s life, and being driven to insanity slowly.” She finished, putting her hair up in a ponytail, then slung a backpack over her shoulder.

Shaun grimaced a bit from that, and from how nonchalant both Kayden and Desmond were about the Bleeding Effect, having already realised that it would probably affect for the rest of their lives even if they never went into an Animus again. However, he didn’t let it deter him and started briefing them on their mission. “You’re targeting Abstergo’s western offices. It’s supposed to, according to our double agent, hold 80% of the new Animus blueprints. The other 20% are important and kept in a different building, but essentially useless without the other plans. Your job is to sneak in, steal the original copy, let Rebecca handle getting the electronic copies if there are any, destroy the rest of the copies and get out of their as fast and quietly as possible. Clear?” Shaun finished, looking at Desmond and Kayden who both nodded before turning to Rebecca who had moved to standing beside Shaun.

“Use this flash drive to get me into their system so that I can scrounge around and steal whatever seems important besides the blueprints, along with monitoring the security system in the entire building. I’ll let you two know, via earpiece, when to grab the flash drive and leave. The drive will release a virus into their system. It’s not as strong as I’d like it to be, but it’ll be enough to keep Abstergo busy for a while, giving us a slight advantage.” Rebecca supplied, a spark of mischief in her eyes and a bit of smugness in her smile. Kayden and Desmond responded with matching looks of mischief. The duo went straight towards the windows, their preferred method for entry and exit, half-turning to give casual salutes and smiles, before running and jumping out of the window onto the nearby roof, rolling on impact and shifting to their running stance as they ran through the city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(At the Abstergo offices)

Kayden and Desmond scaled the fence around the offices, jumping and hanging onto the largest and longest tree branch from the oaks planted by the sides of the building. Staying low and moving so that their movements blended with the wind, masking their movement, the duo climbed till they were on the opposite side of the tree, looking up the side of the building for hand and footholds. Silently planning their route, Kayden went to jump first when the sound of guards approached caused the two to flatten themselves against the branches and keep their breathing quiet, while they eavesdropped on the conversation.

“Did you hear about the new plans for the Animus that one of the techs came up with?” The first guard asked his partner as they rounded the corner.

“No. Does it limit the psychologically affects?” Asked the second one, Ernesto, his name tag said.

“Yeah. Apparently this tech, who's now being a called a genius and has been promoted around three levels, realized that just estimating how much time spent in the Animus wouldn’t do the trick for limiting the psychological strain placed on our employees. So he used his own Animus and added some sensors that would alert the user or whoever was watching their session when the strain from the session would begin to effect the user.” Antonio, as his name tag displayed, answered, while Ernesto shook his head.

“Freaking techs man.” Antonio laughed in agreement as the two circled the tree that Kayden and Desmond were in before Ernesto continued. “You’d think that the higher ups would realize how much trouble this Animus project is and just pull the plug on it. I get the fact that profits would be cut, but, if it affects the employees then you’d think that they would use a safer method for their entertainment project.”

“I agree, but how often do the higher ups really care about the employees. I guess they’ve showed that they cared when they gave the Animus users free healthcare and psych evaluations.” Antonio commented, reaching the corner and falling silent as they turned.

Sharing a glance Desmond said, “I guess the assassin’s aren’t the only ones who think that the Animus is more risky than worth using.” 

Nodding her head in agreement Kayden muttered, “Yeah, but do you think they know about the conflict between assassins and templars, which is one of the main reasons why they made the Animus. Considering the fact that they’re guards, I doubt it. I wonder if we could bring some of the grunts over to our side to work as double agents.” At Desmond’s look, she shrugged, and jumped onto the wall, quickly moving so that Desmond could follow before the guards returned.

Scaling up the wall the duo had to pause a couple times at the sound of footsteps approaching any windows nearby, and had to shuffle around corners to avoid detection by the guards, but other that, it was a fairly easy climb. Getting to the 17th story window Desmond kept his eyes moving and ears open for anything or anyone that might interfere with their entry while Kayden unlocked and opened the window. Using one hand to cling to the ledge, Kayden managed to use her hidden blade as leverage to open the window enough to put her hand through and open it the rest of the way. 

After that, Kayden pulled herself through the window, landing silently on the floor and immediately moving to the side, whispering “Rebecca, we made it inside. I don’t see any cameras pointing this way, but I believe it’s time to put the cameras on a loop,” While Desmond quickly followed and closed the window behind him.

“You got it. Cameras are on a loop as of right...now.” Rebecca replied, and the duo quickly moved through the hallways, keeping close to walls and shadows, when they could find them. Keeping out of sight was the hardest part as there were no rafters to climb on, so the duo had to press themselves into door frames and shadows, just out of the line of sight, before quickly moving on.

Finding the door to the blueprints room, Kayden kneeled in front of in and started picking the lock while Desmond stood against the door frame, keeping watch and checking the time. Luckily the door was one of the few that had yet to be upgraded to an electronic key card lock and was easily to pick, so it wasn’t long before Kayden quietly said “Ah ha!” in triumph and the both Kayden and Desmond slipped inside, closing the door behind them. Making sure they had multiple escape plans, most of which included going through a window or the ventilation shafts the duo split up. 

Desmond took the right of the, surprisingly spacious room, while Kayden took the left. It didn’t take long before Desmond quietly called out, “Kayden the file cabinet and the one computer are over here.” and Kayden swiftly moved over to him, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and opening it, Desmond having already opened the cabinet and his backpack. 

Placing the blueprints in Desmond’s backpack, Kayden paused by the computer and put the flash drive in, saying “Flash drive is in. Have fun Becca,” before turning off the smoke alarm and closing the vents. Desmond had pulled out his small bottle of gas and started pouring it round the room and on he pile of files that he made, after pulling out the other five that looked interesting. Desmond moved from the pile over one of the windows, opening it before making sure that the door was locked, while Kayden stayed by the computer, watching Rebecca go through the Abstergo system.

“Hey guys, I’m done messing with Abstergo’s systems. The camera loop is about to expire, so it’s time to vamoose you’re gorgeous asses out of their before the guards show up.”

“You got it Becca.” Desmond said, moving back to window climbing out while Kayden grabbed the flash drive and started the fire before following Desmond out, closing the window behind her.

“You know Desmond, I just noticed that you numbered the windows under your breath. Why would you number windows? Is there something special about window three or did you just pick it because three is one of Kaydens favorite?” Lucy mused through the earpiece.

“Window three has more holds for climbing and was closest to the roof of the neighboring building, therefore a shorter jumping distance.” Desmond replied, climbing to the left, nearing said roof.

“Not to mention that numbering the windows is more fun and it’s easier to confuse people who try to hack the comms, since they wouldn’t know which way you numbered then, and not knowing your preferred escape routes.” Kayden commented, hanging on the window ledge, listening to the sound of the approaching guards watching as the fire ate away the files and computer before climbing down, following Desmond’s path.

“You two are incredibly weird.” Shaun commented, sarcasm rolling off his tongue like it was his first language. Desmond and Kayden shared a glance, knowing the other was thinking the same thing, before snickering at the thought of that.

“Thank you Shaun. We are quite proud of being weird. It makes life much more fun and interesting.” Desmond said, both quietly laughing while cling to the side of the building. When Desmond had managed to get his laughter under control and reached the ledge above the neighboring roof, he jumped down and rolled on impact to lessen the damage to his body. Kayden followed as soon as he moved to the side, only a matter of seconds, behind Desmond. As the sounds of panic and and surprise from the guards sounded above them the duo grinned at each other, before running on the rooftops back to their current home.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the safe-house Rebecca almost jumped for joy when she was handed the new designs. Grabbing them from Desmond’s hand, she quickly moved over to her baby, happily talking about the upgrades and how she’d show the Abstergo techs how to make a machine better.

“Alright you two, go get some sleep. A field mission on top of an Animus is probably quite draining. Besides, the upgrades will take Rebecca at least a few days to complete, so you can take that time to rest. Who knows when we might receive another assignment or two for you guys to do.” Lucy told Desmond and Kayden, making shooing motions towards their room with a smile on her face, silently congratulating them on their success.

Sharing tired but content smiles, Desmond and Kayden moved towards their room, but decided to detour into the kitchen for a snack, where Desmond could feel the Apple pulsing in his backpack. Pulling his backpack over his shoulder, Desmond, out of boredom and slight curiosity, pulled the Apple out to look at it. Sitting at the small table, the soft glow of the artifact, while tempting either of them to use it, was also comforting to the duo in an odd way. Desmond reached out and ghosted his hand over the Apple, causing it to start changing and to glow brighter, bring the others into the kitchen.

Just like a lightning strike, the group felt the ground shake, the air shifting and changing around them, and then as abruptly as it had started, the effects stopped and there was only the dark of night, with not even the moon to illuminate the area where they stood. They knew that something was wrong, however, they didn’t know the extent of how right they were. The five assassins wasted no time in finding shelter. They found it in a rooftop garden ironically, before allowing a sudden exhaustion lull them each into a deep sleep, unaware of the others in the same position.


	2. Chapter 2

The first sound any of the sleeping assassin's heard were birds chirping and the hustle and bustle of a crowded street. Curious to see where they were, Shaun went to leave their rooftop garden shelter only for Kayden to pull him back in. A warning look and a finger to her lips was her answer to his indignant and irritated expression.  
"There are guards on the rooftops. We need to be extra careful if we want to avoid unwanted attention." Desmond said, looking through the fabric the outside world from seeing them.

Lucy and Rebecca looked just as confused, but they all trusted the master assassins and listened to their silent order of 'keep out of sight'. They waited roughly 15 minutes, although it felt longer to the technical assassin's, before Kayden gestured for them to follow her while Desmond brought up the rear.  
There were many starts and stops while avoiding the rooftop guards, with different lengths of pauses in between allowing the assassin's to notice the differences in where they were from 2015 New York, US before the assassin's finally made it to the ground. Pausing in the shadows of what appeared to be a bakery, they caught their breath and peered around the corner, nearly falling over from surprise. The sight that greeted them, while beautiful, was impossible in their minds.  
"Well, we definitely aren't in Kansas anymore." Rebecca breathed out in awe as the group looked out into a marketplace in 1670 Kingston, England.  
“You just had to go there, didn’t you?” Shaun asked, completely unimpressed, and ignoring the muffled giggles coming from the other three behind him.

“Oh come on! That was funny and you know it. You’re just to stubborn to admit it.” Rebecca responded. 

Shaun was about to say something else when Desmond cut him off by walking into the alleyway behind them, “While this is grand and all, we really should find a tailor or clothing store.” At the confused faces around him, Desmond stopped and pointed to all their clothes, “We’re still in our normal clothes, which means we stick out like sore thumbs. And I doubt we could pretend to be foreigners. Travel is a bit easier and more common, so the people would be more suspicious of us, and more likely to tell guards about us.”

Following Desmond, Kayden said, “That is a good point. Also, I really don’t want to be out in jail for an interrogation at our strange appearances.” Motioning them to follow, the duo started off, sneaking and picking their way through the alleys, looking for anything to use to cover up their modern clothing.

“So, I know this idea is probably going to be shot down, but we could always steal some clothes,” suggested Rebecca, shrugging her shoulders and putting on her innocent face at the two disapproving glares sent her way.

“We can’t steal clothes. That’s illegal,” admonished Lucy, looking appalled at the idea.

“Yes, but so is murder, and we do that at least a couple times a week. You don’t ever seem to mind it all that much,” said Kayden nonchalantly, looking around for a store to slip into quietly.

“That is completely different,” Lucy started to say when Kayden interrupted.

“It’s not completely different. Doing illegal things is what most assassin’s do constantly. Murder, stealing, property damage, and evasion of the law. We do these things all the time, yet you never seem to have a problem with it, deeming them necessary acts.” Turning an alley corner, Kayden continued, “Stealing something to cover up our clothes, or some money to buy new clothes and possibly a room at an inn, especially from some rich nobles, are also necessary acts for us to stay alive while finding our way back home.” Kayden finished, who had activated her hawk gaze.

“Don’t forget about the forgery and manipulating officers.” Desmond chimed in, eagle vision activated, walking towards a group of people who were subtly flaunting their wealth with their jewels and finely tailored clothes, before stopping at looking at Kayden. Kayden followed his gaze and nodded in agreement while Lucy looked contemplative, but luckily not irritated.

“Desmond, where are you going?” Shaun asked, crossing his arms and alternating his gaze from Desmond to the direction he was looking in.

“I think those nobles, who were foolish enough to set down their coats and purses, can probably afford to lose those items to those who need them more.” Explained Desmond, who was smiling mischievously. They were now standing close to the wall, blending with the background as the crowd passed them.

“How, exactly, do you plan on stealing them. There are guards all over and we,” Shaun paused, gesturing to himself, Lucy, and Rebecca, “Are not as skilled in sneaking around shadily and stealing as you are.”

“So you three will stay here in the shadows while Desmond and I sneak through the crowd over there, steal the clothes and purses, and sneak our way back,” Kayden said, moving in sync with Desmond and wearing matching grins of mischief, before carry out their plan.

Grumbling a bit, the other three shuffled quietly into one of the partly walled off gardens, looking through the window, trying to keep sight of the two master assassins as they moved through the crowd. Kayden and Desmond moved silently, and apart from each other, through the surprisingly busy street to where the nobles had gathered to talk about politics and pirates in one of the guarded gardens. Slipping through the side gates, the two assassins walked past the nobles, discreetly snagging the coats and purses. Both assassins slipped on a coat and attached a purse to their belts, before blending through the crowd, easily making their way over to their friends.

“Ta da! Free coats, and a generous donation of money. Now we can go get tailored clothes, seeing how these probably won’t fit us very well, and we get the new clothes made specifically altered for our lifestyle. Along with selling these coats for more money,” Kayden said, smiling and passing out the purses while Desmond passed out the coats, having a matching smile.

“I feel as if I should be concerned with how well you two know how to live on the streets.” Lucy commented, her coat fitting snugly against her frame. “However, I’m not going to ask because I’m fairly sure I know the reason why, and I don’t don’t want to be more concerned and worried then I already am if I happen to be wrong.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Rebecca said, her coat a little to tight, before asking, “Do you know a tailor shop that would make us clothes without asking questions about our appearances, the way we would need our clothes made, and the coats that we’re selling?”

“Nope. But that’s why we stole from rich people. Give someone a few extra pounds coins and most people will do whatever you’re paying them to do without question,” Desmond replied, cutting along some of the seems in the sleeves of his coat, and then a couple in Rebecca’s, so that their coats would fit them a little better. Tilting her head, Kayden did the same to her coat, while Lucy used a few safety pins, where she got them none of them bothered asking, to pin up Shaun’s coat since it was a little big on him.

“So we are, essentially, making a completely bullshit plan,” Shaun said, disgruntled by that, and, after Lucy finished with the pins, started walking down the street with the others behind him.

“Do you have a better idea? If so I’d love to hear them,” Desmond said, irritated at Shaun's effort in criticizing their ideas, yet not offering any of his own. Tilting his head to glance at the nobles who were shouting indignantly and assaulting people about stealing their belongings.

Huffing and grumbling about his irritation, and not having the bloody time to come up with a “proper” plan, Shaun quieted down about his complaints. Lucy took the lead, fast walking down the street, eyes looking up ahead and to the left at what looked to be a tailors shop. Hoping that they would be able to keep their current stream of luck going, at least until they got situated, Lucy kept her eyes focused on the sign, looking for clarification as to what the shop was.

“Hey guys,” Lucy called drawing everyone’s attention to her, “There’s a tailor shop right there,” she said, pointing diagonally across the street at the shiny blue sign with BRANSON & Co. written in silver that was swinging gently in the light breeze. Looking for an opening in the traffic in the, now, busy street, the group of assassins waited before dashing across the street, narrowly avoiding being hit by an oncoming carriage, purposefully ignoring the drivers angry swearing at them.

Opening the door, tiny bell jingled breaking the silence, the group walked into the store. Looking around they all took in the sight of the many clothes, outfits, designs, accessories, and colored fabrics. A man with a small build who was easily in his late 50’s or early 60’s, came out from around a row of clothes. His eyes shined intelligent and he had an excited smile on his face.

“Hello and welcome! How may I be of service to you fine young people today?” He asked, happily rubbing his hands together, his smile growing even wider. “Oh my, I forgot. My name is Oliver Branson, the owner of this humble establishment.”

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mr. Branson,” Lucy said, the others standing still in surprise from the, oddly healthy, old mans mannerisms. “My friends and I need some new clothes. Our current coats don’t fit properly, and most of us, except for our red-headed friend, are from the American Colonies, se we were hoping some new clothes will help us to blend into English society.”

“Ah, of course, of course. Since you are from the Colonies, how about I cut you a deal? I’ll buy your current coats from you and you can get the new coats for free. However, anything else you buy will cost the normal amount,” Oliver said, eyeing the groups finely designed coats, even if they were a bit worn at the seams, and knew that they must have cost quite a bit, or were a gift from a wealthy friend, or family member.

Looking at each other the group shrugged at Lucy, silently letting her know that the decision was up to her. Glaring at them and then sighing, Lucy turned back to Oliver with a pleasant smile on her face. “We can do that. Thank you for your most gracious offer.” 

The others quickly pulled off their coats and started passing them to Oliver, who was purposely ignoring their strange attire when Kayden spoke up. “We have a different and very specific lifestyle, certainly unlike most of your previous customers. Can you make our clothes, specifically the coats, work around it?” Her coat off and showing her hidden blade and bracers. “It is critical that we can do our work while blending in and being able to access our tools efficiently with ease and speed.”

Nodding his head, Oliver replied, his tone serious, “I understand miss. I pride myself on making my clothes work for any kind of lifestyles, and my discretion for some of my clients who do their work in the shadows. Your clothes will made as a perfect fit for your style and work, and no one will question or know the reasons behind the style and fit,” the group smiled and relaxed at Oliver's severe expression and genuine words, causing Oliver to also relax and return to smiling brightly.

Oliver put the coats on his front desk area, appraising the fabric and style, before giving Lucy 10 pounds coins, 15 shillings coins, and 25 pence coins. “May I ask about what exactly you need to be customized for your work? I’m assuming that it has something to do with the contraptions on the wrists of you two,” Oliver said, pointing to Desmond and Kayden. Watching with keen eyes as the group looked at each other when Kayden stepped forward.

“You would be correct sir. We need our coats, and likely our shirts as well, provided they’re long-sleeved, to go over or under our braces and blades while still being able to use them without the risk of it being snagged on the clothes. Along with belts and sheaths for throwing knives, daggers, a few guns, and at least one sword each. We prefer discretion rather than openly carrying our weapons raising suspicion in the streets,” explained Kayden, adjusting her bracer, while they all showed a variety of their combined weapons.

Oliver nodded, turned, and walked towards his work station before returning to the group and taking the measurements of them all and writing little notes on adjustments for weapons and as much maneuverability as possible, humming all the while. When he was done he told the group to pick their own color schemes and fabric for their clothes and gather some pedestrian clothes for comfort until he finished their custom outfits.

~~~~~~~~

“This is fits extraordinarily well.” Rebecca said, admiring her new period styled clothing and the sheaths and holsters they had bought to match.

“Thank you for this Mr. Oliver,” Lucy said, handing over the money to the beaming tailor. “These are beautiful and we will take care of them as best as we can. It was a pleasure to meet and do business with you.”

“You can probably expect to hear from us again though,” Desmond chimed in, leaning around Lucy to smile and wink at Oliver.

Oliver laughed in response and said, “The pleasure was all mine my dear young friends. I do hope to see you all again,” He smiled and waved as they left the store.

“Now what should we do?” Shaun asked as the group put their hoods up, adjusting them for maximum vision and moved swiftly away from the stores entrance, with Desmond and Kayden in the lead.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving. Time-travelling probably takes a lot out of the body, so I propose we go find an inn to eat at and stay in for a while. Then we can make a plan about how we act and live here until we can find a way back home,” Desmond said as Kayden hummed in compliance, while they both turned to look at the others. After the looks of contemplation passed, the other three nodded in concession and they all set off again, this time in search of an inn or tavern.

Meandering the streets of the much older Kingston than they, specifically Shaun, were used to, the group took the time they had to subtly take pictures with their phones. How the phones were still working none of them knew, but they took it as some sort of miracle or blessing as they tried to burn the images of what they saw and the different culture they experienced into their minds.

“You know,” Rebecca began, speaking silently so as not to break the tranquil silence around them, “History teachers always make the cities of the past seem revolting and disgusting. Yet, here, all I see is the simplicity and beauty of the past.”

“Very poetically put Becca,” Shaun uttered, covering his giddy happiness with a serene expression and tone. The others hummed in harmonious unison.

“Thank you Shaun,” responded Rebecca, unable to keep the smile off her face.

“We really should find a way to earn money legally. Maybe there’s a theatre or a tavern that would be willing to hire performers. Or, Desmond and Kayden, maybe you could be street performers,” Lucy muttered, keeping her voice quiet, mimicking Rebecca and Shaun’s tones while beside her she could tell that Kayden was nodding her head unconsciously, eyes roaming around the streets planning escape routes through the crowds and to the rooftops.

“Yes, we should, but how often do we get a vacation?” Desmond replied. “Why don’t we take some time to just relax, sight-see, and worry about money and housing later, when we actually need it.” Giving their assent, the group fell into a peaceful silence once again. Lucy looked as if she was about to try and argue, until she saw the looks of peace on everyone’s faces, even amid the chaos of the bustling streets, and decided that Desmond had a point.

“YOU THERE! STOP! BY ORDER OF THE LAW!” A voice bellowed from behind them, causing the assassin’s to jerk around, surprise and concern coloring their faces, eyes immediately looking for the criminals or the threat. They saw roughly ten soldiers charging towards them.

Sharing a glance with each other, they turned and started running through the crowds, sticking as close together as possible, when Lucy called out, “Why are they chasing us?! It’s not like we’ve done anything to attract their attention!”

“Well,” Shaun started, “ We haven’t started out here with the best impression on some possibly influential people! Then again, someone could think that we are someone else and holds a grudge! Or someone thought that we looked suspicious enough to alert the guards!”

“Or!” Desmond replied, slipping in between two burly men, and continued, “We’re about to find out if we were sent here for a reason, and what that reason would be!” The group ducked into an alley, staying close to the corner, but far back enough to stay out of sight, pausing to let the others catch their breath, as well as come up with a plan.

Kayden used the stop to look around the corner before telling the others her current plan. “We should split up. Des, you and I are going to lead the soldiers away. Lucy, you, Shaun, and Rebecca, find somewhere close to hide. If we don’t find you by tonight, try making an information network, the kids and the beggars will be the most likely to help us find each other.” Lucy and Shaun looked like they were about to argue when they heard the sound of thudding feet coming towards their current rest place. “Go!” Kayden whisper-shouted, before she and Desmond ran back into the street, instantly catching the eyes of the soldiers and resumed running.

“Head towards the rooftops. That should slow them down,” Desmond shouted, briefly pointing to the pulleys in front, and a smidge to the left, of them, when Kayden nodded. Running, ducking, and pushing through the crowd, both assassin’s reached the pulleys, cutting the rope, the sound of their feet hitting the stone reverberated off of the rooftops, while shouts from the angry soldiers resounded below. 

Stopping a few rooftops away from the first one and taking refuge in a rooftop garden, Desmond and Kayden heaved for breath and heard the sound of soldiers scrambling around the rooftops looking for them.Two guards passed their hiding space, one on either side of the garden, and met an end with a blade in the base of their necks before their bodies were pulled into the hiding spot. Closing the fallen guards eyes, taking their money and throwing knives, and briefly saying their own versions of ‘rest in peace’, the duo slid out and crouched down, peering around the corner, watching the guards spread out movements.

“Go to the right,” Kayden whispered, both swiftly running, close to the ground, to the ledge nearest them, dropping down a level, turning to the right, and kept running, all the while jumping, dodging, and swinging around obstacles. Dropping to the ground in an alley, the assassins were surprised when a small girl, looking worn out and winded, but determined, approached them.

“Are the two of ya Des and Kayden?” She asked. At their stunned nods, the girl continued. “Yer friend Lu asked me to give this to ya,” Passing a crumpled piece of paper to Desmond, who was closest to her, she turned and started walking away.

“Wait,” Desmond called out softly, and when the girl turned around looking confused, Desmond continued. “What’s your name?”

The girl’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and her mouth inadvertently opened in an O shape, before she answered. “It’s Calli,” Narrowing her eyes and looking at them with suspicion, Calli asked, “Why do ya want to know the name of a street rat?” disbelief, hurt, and resigned acceptance bleeding through her voice.

Looking at each other, Kayden nodded for Desmond to first start the conversation. Turning to look back at Calli, who was now in a very defensive stance, Desmond smiled, and crouched down, with Kayden following, so as to be on Calli’s eye level, and explained,“First off, we were street rats when we were younger too. We were able to get better lives through hard work, perseverance, and some much needed and greatly appreciated help. You helped us, so we would like to help you, and your friends if they would like to accept our offer,” Calli looked surprised, then distrustful, before that faded to hopefulness as she recognized the genuine kindness in the duo’s faces and in Desmond’s tone. 

At her nod for them to continue, Kayden started from where Desmond left off. “Once we find a place to stay, although we don’t know how long we can stay, we’ll start distributing food and give you, and your friends, access to warm beds for whenever you want a place to stay in that would offer you safety for however long you wish to stay.”

Calli was quiet for a few moments before answering, “Since ya people are so nice, I accept yer offer In return fer ya kindness, my friends and I will keep acting as a message system for all ya purposes,” At the surprised looks, she quickly continued so as not to be interrupted, “This ain’t gonna change. Now ya better start movin. Don’t want these guards to catch up to ya, now do we?” With that Calli gave a dazzling smile, waved, and walked around the corner, whistling as she went down the street.

Kayden and Desmond shared a smile before smoothing out the piece of paper. It read “Des, K, we found a house and rented it, located next to the Thames port. It’s large. You’ll know it when you see it - Lu”.

“I really hope they didn’t do something obnoxious, like hanging assassin banners from the windows,” Kayden said, sarcasm covering up the concern in her tone, and Desmond laughed lightly. “In any case, I think we’ve had enough of a breather, and considering the fact that there’s no more shouting, I think we can go find our temporary home.” With that the duo made their way into the street, swiftly blending with the moving crowds, and taking in the sights.

~~~~~~~~~~~  
(a little while later, close to the evening)

“Biggest upside of being thrown back in time would be spending less time in the Animus,” Desmond commented, adding to their list of reasons, the 8th and final reason, why this strange thing was a good thing. Kayden nodded in agreement, having just taken a bite of the apple she had picked. The list had been her idea to pass the time.

Finishing her bite, Kayden replied saying, “Very true,” when she noticed another hooded person coming towards them.

As the figure neared them she called out, “Hey guys. You know, I’m surprised these hoods are so cool considering the heat.”

Smiling, Desmond responded, “There is a reason why we wear them, but uh, I don’t think you are doing it the right way.”

“What,” Rebecca asked, tilting her head, “Do you you mean that Des?”

“Becca,” Kayden started, “The way you were walking and acting makes you look a bit suspicious.” Desmond was laughing, behind his hand of course, at the incredulous look on Kaydens face.

Smoothing out the crinkles in her outfit, Rebecca replied, “Well, I haven’t had the practice you two have had. I’ll get better at it, don’t worry your pretty little heads. Now come on, this house is really cool, and beautiful. I know you two will love it.” Leading them through the crowd towards the residential district, they stopped in front of a large, pale blue, house that was larger than the other buildings beside it. 

Opening the door, Rebecca let the duo walk past her, and smiled as Desmond and Kayden gaped slightly at the wide open interior. The walls were a dark green with worn brown borders, and intricate designs in varying shades of light blue, white, teal, that reminded the duo of a forest on the edge of the ocean. The floor and railing were a dark brown,likely made of oak wood, and there were only a few decorations around the dining room, kitchen, and parlor, all adding the open feeling. Most of the furniture was the same dark brown as the floor, with a variety of blue, green, and white throw pillows on the couch, and on the beds upstairs. There were six bedrooms in the upstairs, and two of them led into powder/bath rooms, and there was one powder room by itself, along with two large balconies, one overlooking the city portion, and the other overlooked the Thames port and the ocean. In the bedroom next to the stairs there were two large queen sized beds adorned with silvery blue bedsheets and dark green pillows, with the designs done in darker blues and greens.

“It’s perfect,” Kayden breathed out, leaning on the balcony outside her shared bedroom, smiling in awe at the Thames river, Desmond mirroring her exactly. Both were completely oblivious to the smiles on the faces of the other three, including Shaun.

“There are some clothes in the closet that, so far, have fit us fairly well,” Shaun told them, face going back to his default expression, a split second before Kayden and Desmond turned around. “So now we don’t have to wear the same clothes everyday, but there is still the issue of a constant food supply and a steady income.”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to find a way to get by till we can figure out how we got here, if there’s some important thing we should be doing, and how to get back to our time frame,” Lucy said, her tone revealing that she wasn’t concerned, therefore Shaun should relax as well. It was the first time, in what felt like forever since they became a unit, that they saw Kayden and Desmond smiling without a care in the world, looking so at peace, and enjoying themselves. That usually only happened when they were outside on a field mission, and even then, they had a feeling they weren’t at peace during those times.

“I think,” Desmond began, gaining their attention, “We should all get some sleep. Night’s coming anyway, and tomorrow we can figure out a plan to solve, or at least limit, concerns with clear and awake minds.” Walking back inside from the balcony, having grabbed Kaydens hand to pull her back inside with him. The group smiled at each other, the other three said goodnight and left, going to their own rooms. Kayden and Desmond shared exhausted, but genuine, smiles before collapsing onto their separate beds, wanting to be close to each other, since they were siblings in all but blood, but still have their own space. Neither wanted to cause bodily harm to the other should they have a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next part is going to probably be a description of Kayden as well as a bio, which will be expanded on later in the story to include the relationship between her family and Desmond's as well as how the two survived after leaving The Farm and other things. I thought a basic one now would be helpful when reading the story. The next, actual, chapter is likely to be much longer than the first two, and we will get to meet the people from the past and some truths will be brought up only to be described later in the story ;P


	3. Brief Info about/Description of Kayden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is all of the stuff I currently have on Kayden. I'll be adding more to the scars and tattoos later on, and I'll add more details to her history along with talking more about her family, including the extended portion. And the next chapter will likely be really long. There is a meeting and so I'm not sure where to make the chapter break. Hopefully it will be up this weekend.

Kayden O’Connell

Age: 25-27 (3 months younger than Desmond, older than Lucy (24-26), and younger than Shaun (30-32) and Rebecca (30-32))

Height + Weight: 5’7” and 160 pounds of toned muscle

Hair, Eyes, Skin Tone: Dark blonde hair, blue-green eyes (think of the ocean), and fair/tanned skin

Scars, Tattoos, Birthmarks, Etc: Multiple scars, most prominent/important are: Criss cross on left hip/thigh from being whipped, horizontal scar across right collarbone, vertical scar through right shoulder (impaled), burn scar on lower back - right side, smallish scar on left thigh (impaled), scar on side of right thigh, scar on left side of upper arm, scar across right forearm, scar from right shoulder blade to middle of back, scar from shoulder to shoulder, triple diagonal scars on right side, one diagonal scar on left side going under armpit, (more will likely be added later)

Tattoos: Dandelions and crows flying across right collarbone (over the scar), three cherry blossoms on left ankle, Halloween themed tattoo on right ankle, coiled snake around upper right arm, Icelandic compass tattoo on right forearm under the elbow (covering part of the scar), all planets + sun partially wrapped around left thigh, phases of the moon in partial circle on right thigh, multiple quote tattoos (not sure about all of them so I’m leaving this vague for a bit until I update her character information)

Family (Immediate - Birth): Davis (Father), Valeria (Mother), Kasey (immediate older brother), Liam and Kody (older twin brothers), Allister (oldest brother), Alex (male) and Alexia (fem) (immediate younger twins), Carey (youngest sister), Layla (youngest brother/in siblings) 

Brief History: Kayden was born in Colorado Springs and soon after her family moved to the Farm in South Dakota. There, she and her family became very close with the Miles family and Kayden and Desmond became friends. They’ve been inseparable ever since. Both were trained very similarly, including gymnastics and ballet, including pointe. Because they were so close, they were called twins and soulmates, and they seemed to have a ‘telepathic’ link. Both felt trapped, so they both ran away from the Farm together, but Kayden left a note for her family, especially her younger siblings because she was very close to her family. Desmond was closer to her family than his own, but still wanted to leave. They both were able to live on the streets doing performances and such before they got into college and got professional jobs.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is really long, but for a, possibly, good reason. I'm hoping this will be a good tie over since I'll likely be busy with school for the next month. I didn't really get the chance for anyone to look over it, so all mistakes are mine as usual and it might be worse than the others. I hope you guys like it!

(Time Skip - Next Day; Morning)

The golden sunlight poured through the windows and the of birds chirping filled the still and peaceful morning air as the time travelers awoke from their sleep. Yawning, Desmond sat up and stretched, lean muscles contorting as sensation filled them. Looking over at Kayden, and noting how she was still fast asleep, Desmond smirked mischievously as he began pelting Kayden pillows, watching as she started awake, before immediately trying to go back to sleep. 

Standing up Desmond started towards the other bed, but paused to look out the glass window doors and saw the bustling port, causing a memory of the past day fill his mind as well as what they were going to do today. Opening the glass doors to let in the fresh air, Desmond then walked over to Kaydens bed, sat on the edge and, paying attention to her hidden blade (she almost took of Shaun’s left ear the first, and only time, he was sent to wake her. He had staunchly refused to do it since then) and shook her shoulder. 

Desmond leaned down and murmured softly in her ear, “Wake up darling sister. We have to go get food from the market if we want to get something fresh to eat.” Kayden groaned in response, but opened her eyes, looking sleepy and confused. Chuckling at her silent “what are you talking about Des?”, he answered “We’re in 1670 Kingston, remember?” This renewed information caused Kayden to jolt up, almost falling out of bed, but saved herself by grabbing onto Desmond, who was laughing harder and louder than he had in awhile.

Glaring at Desmond’s laughing form, Kayden grumbled out, “Shut up Des. It’s to early to deal with pranks. And people.” Her forced glare faded as she joined him in belly-aching laughter that woke her up better than anything else would. 

Lucy walked in around 15 minutes later, only to see Kayden and Desmond on the floor, holding their stomachs with their eyes closed, gasping for air and trying to contain their laughter. Smiling at her friends and, barely, containing her own laughter, Lucy caught their attention by speaking over their laughter, “Well good morning you two. I take it you’re both feeling well.”

Stifling their laughter, Desmond and Kayden rolled onto their backs so that they could look at her, smiling wide and nodding at the statement.

Laughing at them, Lucy said, “If you’d like to get some breakfast with the group you’d better get ready quickly. We’re going to leave for the market in about 5 minutes.” With that, Lucy turned and left their room, leaving the duo to pick themselves up. Still calming themselves and getting their breath back, the duo helped each other up before Desmond entered the walk in closet and Kayden went to the powder room. Grabbing his preference in civilian clothing, Desmond switched with Kayden who changed into her preferred civilian clothes before they both grabbed their coats and weapons, strapping them on as they walked downstairs to join their friends.

“Finally joining the chaotic world of the living and our strange reality, I see.” Shaun spoke up from the left of the duo, the dramatic sarcasm in his tone made all of them smile and chuckle.

“C’mon drama queen. I need some food, and I would like to explore more of this timeframe.” Rebecca joked, strutting over to the front door, swinging it open, almost smacking Shaun in face, only for him to catch it and ended up holding the door open for the other three. The room filled with golden light and the quiet air became heavy with the sounds of conversation, horses and carts on the cobblestones, and the smells of varying spices, foods, and the sea.

“Not gonna lie, I really fucking love how open, stimulating, and free it is here. It’s so refreshing.” Desmond commented, gazing at the multitude of colors in the streets. Kayden linked their arms together, and hummed in agreement while the others watched quietly, understanding how much being free meant to the duo, letting them enjoy this for as long as they could.

The five assassin’s meandered around the streets, pausing by a fruit stall to buy apples, oranges, and peaches, before resuming their meandering exploration. Munching on their breakfast, Shaun spoke up, “I don’t know why I just thought of this, but you two,” pointing at Desmond and Kayden who were looking confused, “Really are like the birds you have tattooed on your bodies, especially considering your personalities.” Stopping suddenly, they all looked at each other, realizing that Shaun had a point, when movement drew Rebecca's attention away from her group.

“Guys, look over there!” Rebecca exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet, resembling a hyperactive child. Looking at where she was pointing, the other four saw a large group of, mostly, hooded figures before seeing what made Rebecca so excited. A larger theatre behind them to the left, and a cafe right next to it, the theatre having a now hiring sign in the front window.

“Well, that is certainly convenient. I think one can only hope that things just got easier, and that the sign isn’t from a while ago, the owners having forgotten to take it down.” Shaun commented, tone dry as a desert with curiosity on the edges.

“I, for once, agree with Shaun.” Desmond added, activating his eagle vision and pointing at the hooded group going unnoticed by most people. “However, I’m more curious about the hooded people, who they are, and why most of them are glowing a bluish white, or a red and blue split, instead of one solid color.”

“Wait. Doesn’t a blue glow mean that they are, or going to be, allies?” Rebecca asked, turning to look at Desmond.

“Yeah, but again, it’s usually a solid color. Blue for allies, white for neutral, and hiding places, and red for enemies. I’ve never seen someone with a blue and white light, or a blue and red light.” Replied Desmond, amber eyes glowing, head tilted to the side slightly, looking like confused puppy. “Have you ever seen something like this before Kayden?”

“No, I haven’t. I’m also seeing the two tone colors. Most are silver and blue, but a few of them are wavering between red and blue. Ever color is in varying shades as well.” Answered Kayden, ocean eyes glowing, her hawk gaze activated, mimicking Desmond’s expressions. 

“What’s bugging me is that I feel like I should know who they are, but I can’t remember. Like a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, but I can’t find the thread that will lead me to the answer.” Desmond muttered, the entire group looking distant and puzzled, before a group of men shouting at the second group broke their train of thought. Any attempt to figure out the identities of the second group feeling from their thoughts, as the new faction looked like they were going to pick a fight with the hooded figures, who looked strikingly dangerous.

“Hey! Why don’t ya move outta the way already, ya pompous pricks!” One of the men, who reeked of alcohol, hollered at the hoods with an angry, raised voice. Seeing the opposing faction look startled briefly, before turning to face the much smaller band.

“Why we should we move for you, when you could easily go around? For that matter, what would you do if decided not to move for you?” Challenged a loud, but not in an annoying fashion, young british man.

Looking as if the speaker realized that his faction was indeed out numbered, he tried a different tactic, unaware of the two new figures slowly approaching and eavesdropping. “How about ya let us borrow your women for a while, and we’ll quietly move on. No ruckus, no guards, and we won’t have any problems in the future.” The, now obviously, drunk man jeered. Before anyone could say or do anything, two people appeared from out of nowhere, landing punches on the spokesperson and his friend closest to him.

“You piece of scum! How dare you talk to these ladies as if their objects!” The young, blonde-haired female, raged, exacting a swift and hard uppercut to the spokesperson’s abdomen, while her equally young, brown-haired, male companion grabbed his current target’s head and slammed in into his knee. There was an audible crunch, the sound of the nose, teeth, and a cheekbone breaking from the force of the impact. Staggering away from the two newcomers, the hooded faction took a, collective, few steps backwards, sizing up the duo. Noting the relaxed, yet powerful stances, and the anger radiating off of the newcomers, the hooded figures shared glances with each other, realizing that these two were not the best people to piss off.

Laughing quietly, one of the men in the hooded faction, the young native american spoke softly, “I do not think that this fight is going to go well for the drunkard and his lackeys.”

“No,” Agreed the red-haired American woman standing a little ways apart from the man, “bumbling and untrained versus, clearly, well trained and swift fury. This fight will surely go to the newcomers. And, from how quick and swift they moved, will end just as quick as it begun.” Narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms, the woman looked at the unfolding situation as if it was a complex problem that needed to be solved.

The first fist to fly came, predictably, from the lackey closest to the young man, who easily dodged, body language suggesting this was like child’s play to him. Wrapping his own arm around the lackeys to keep him in place, the man slammed his elbow into the lackeys face, crushing and grinding down the already broken bones and shoved the lackeys head backwards, breaking the arm in the process, all in a matter of seconds. And the, miraculously, still breathing, unconscious, and broken, body fell to the ground.

During the falling of the body, the young woman was attacked. She ducked to the left and slide forward, landing her blow directly to the floating ribs, effectively breaking two of the ribs, and body slamming the man away from her, breaking his jaw with a well placed right hook. The poor bastard dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, joining his friend in the land of unconsciousness. Two men down, and eight more to go, with odds still highly in favor of the duo.

Four of the remaining lackeys attacked simultaneously, two on one each. The trained duo all but danced away from the sloppy attacks, keeping their own preferred distance between them and their opponents, countering in swift, sharp, movements.The male grabbed one of his opponent's arms, swung it over his shoulder into an armbar, and, after kicking the second man in the knee, broke the first opponents arm, throwing the body of his shoulder. Attempting to stand with his broken arm, the first opponent was stopped short when the trained fighters knee met the face, forcing back into the ground. Blazing amber eyes, one of his only facial features that they could see, focused on his second opponent, who was now standing but favored his left slightly. Staying crouched, the young man faked forward, catching his opponent off guard. Blitzing forward, but just enough to the right so as to give him the edge, the fighter swept the lackeys leg up, catching it, and lifted higher, before shoving the helpless man backward, breaking the knee and dislocating the hip joint. Satisfied with the state of his former opponents, the young man turned and watched with arms crossed and a slight smile on his face, as his female companion moved fluidly away from her opponent’s attacks.

The female kicked her first target in the groin, immediately putting her foot down while grabbing the mans hair, swiftly brought up her knee to meet his face, breaking the nose. As he staggered backwards, she quickly turned her attention to her second opponent. Blitzing forward and dodging the mans sloppy punches, she landed two punches, one to the sternum and one to the ribs. Bringing her left arm up and grabbing her opponent’s head, she slammed her right elbow directly into the center of his face. Letting the man fall, but with her foot keeping one of his feet in place, resulting in the ankle breaking, ensuring that the lackey would stay down. Half-turning and stepping backwards, she blocked the punch thrown at the back of her head, she grabbed the lackeys face and bent him backwards, slamming the back of his head into her knee and letting him fall into unconsciousness.

The remaining four men pulled out knives form their bets, smiling as they foolishly believed that their knives gave them the upper hand. When the leader spoke, he had the audacity to arrogantly say, “Leave now, before we do some serious damage to those pretty faces of yours.” Sharing a glance with the remaining three men, he continued, “We’ve got the upper hand now, and I really would hate to mess up those fair faces of yours.”

The two fighters looked at each other before the male gave an amused snort of repressed laughter, and the both shook with silent laughter. “We’ve taken out six of your, hilariously untrained, men. Yet you think that you have the upper hand because you decided to pull out your knives.” The woman sassed, amusement and disbelief causing her tone to sound bubbly.

At the confused and bordering on enraged faces, the man spoke up, in the same tone as his companion, “Those knives are for self-defense. If you really want to do some damage to someone with a short blade,” He paused as both he and his companion unsheathed large, curved blades, giving them practiced twirls, “You use a Kukri.” At the sight of the kukri blades three of the hooded figures looked down at their belts and their own sheathed kukri, before sharing a confused glance with each other, then focused their attention back to the fighter duo.

Sharing glances torn between nervousness and anger, the leader masked his nerves by glaring at the duo. Rushing towards the duo, the companions shared a glance and smirked, while shifting their stances into ones with most of the power focused into the legs for speed and agility. Parrying the first two attacks, the duo moved in sync, attacking and slicing through the first two attackers coats and their collarbones and shoulders. Then, moving behind their opponents, they sliced through the thighs and hooked their blades around the hip on the opposite side cutting into the abdomen and down into the hip bone. Letting the bodies fall to the ground, the fighters blocked the second attack shifting so that the blow glanced off of their gauntlets. Spinning around on one knee, they hooked the last two behind their legs, drawing their blades up through the muscle and tendons in the knee, leaving the last opponents to fall onto the ground, unable to move, permanently crippled.

Standing up gracefully, the duo dusted off their pants and wiped the blood off of their blades, sheathing their kukri blades as they half turned to face the hooded troop.

“I think we should go to aafe for lunch. After that we could go see what the theatre is looking for in employees.” The man commented, arms crossing as he nodded his own shrouded head to the right, and towards the hooded figures, who were still standing staring at them in a mixture of surprise, amused, a sense of pride, and some of them felt reluctantly impressed by their skills.

Before the female had the chance to respond, three more strangers dashed over, looking slightly worried and annoyed, but impressed nonetheless. “Really you two? Don’t disappear like that without telling one of us first! I almost had a heart attack when we realized you were gone!” Scolded another blonde woman, this one had her hair cut shorter and was in a bun, differentiating her from the fighter. The fighters simply shrugged, unfazed and unconcerned about the anger and annoyance directed at them.

Sighing and snapping out of their dazes, one of the hoods, the closest one stepped forward and cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the five strangers. “Thank you for the, abrupt, intervention. I am Aveline de Grandpre. You are..?” Asked Aveline. The five people looked slightly shocked, whether at her appearance or her French accent, very out of place among the predominantly British and American accents in the city.

“Uh, right. Introductions, that would be the polite thing.” The young male fighter mumbled under breath, bringing the other four out of their shock, where they proceeded to look at him expectantly. Looking back to Aveline and raising his voice so that she could hear, continued, “I’m Desmond, and this is Kayden,” pointing to the female fighter, before pointing at the next three in order, “That is Lucy, Shaun, and Rebecca.”

The blonde fighter, Kayden, cocked her head to the side before half turning away from the hooded group murmuring, “I guess now we know why we thought they looked so familiar.” Desmond gave an amused snort at that, then Lucy elbowed him on his left side. Unlike most people, Desmond barely even flinched and gave her a shit eating grin instead, to the surprise and amusement of Aveline and the other hoods.

Rallying their attention back to her, Aveline politely inquired, “Might I ask why you stepped in? It would have been much easier and less dangerous to simply watch, which is what most would have done. Did you believe we could not handle them?”

The five looked confused and vaguely amused before Rebecca grinned and smothered her laughter, setting off a chain reaction of the group trying to hide their laughter, three of them half turning so that Aveline didn’t see their smiles. Kayden, who had turned to face Desmond, was the first to get her laughing under control. Aveline heard her inhale deeply and cough out the last of her laugh as she turned back to face Aveline and her group. Unable to keep the amusement off of her face Kayden answered, “You have a sugar cane machete, a blowpipe, and most of you have at least a sword and pistol. I’m certain you all can handle yourselves in a fight.” Kayden’s friends having brought their laughter mostly under control, turned to face them, also unable to keep their amusement hidden.

Desmond, the second most composed out of the five, continued, “We stepped in because we could, since you had yet to move. They were douchebags, we didn’t like them, and it seemed like a good idea. If you had wanted to beat them to a pulp, then you should have moved faster.” Shaun snorted in disbelief at that, and, after Desmond glared at him, Desmond added, “It was also a way for the two of us to blow of steam and stress caused by our work.” Turning to back to face Shaun, Desmond said, “Happy now truthy mcgee?” The ladies grinned, and Rebecca had to smother her laughter again, at Desmond’s annoyance and Shaun’s smug smile.

Lucy lightly smacked them both on the backs of their heads, snapping them out of their glaring contest, saying, “All right you two we're on a break for vacation so it's time to behave. Otherwise people will keep avoiding us, and considering what we were discussing earlier, we really don’t want that.” Grumbling the boys gave their agreement, Lucy smiled brightly, and Rebecca rolled her eyes, while Kayden observed and analyzed Aveline and the rest of the hooded group, not even trying to be subtle about it.

“I have never heard of anyone looking for a job while on a break from work. Although I think the more important question is why did you choose to visit England when you could have gone to a more exotic location for a vacation.” Christopher Gist asked, smiling at the groups.

“Huh?” Shaun asked.

“Oh yes, very eloquently put Shaun.” Snickered Desmond at the British mans loss for words. When Shaun glared at Desmond and opened his mouth to reply, Lucy got in between them. The three were now in a silent argument comprised of facial expressions and gestures.

“We came to England after we, finally, got a break from our work in the American Colonies, and we decided to come to England instead of, as you so put it, someplace exotic because Lucy, Shaun, and myself didn’t have the time to learn a new language. Besides, we thought that since Shaun is from England, we already have a guide so we were less likely to get lost.” Rebecca answered, both her and Kayden facing the others, deciding to completely ignore the three behind them.

“All five of you work together in America’s even though you’re from different areas? That, considering the two gentlemen behind you, seems to be an impressive feat.” Adewale commented, resulting in both Kayden and Desmond giving amused huffs.

Haytham, who had been focusing mostly on the two already, and, who was letting his curiosity for the two strange figures who had yet to take off their hoods, the male having his collar up as well, being the ones with the most mystery around them like human puzzles that he wanted to solve so he could play his cards right in potentially bringing them into the Order, raised and eyebrow and asked, “I suppose you two have different opinion on this work of yours. I’d be interested in hearing them.”

Sharing a look, Desmond and Kayden looked back at them, during Haytham’s question Desmond had lowered his collar revealing a scar through his lips, and they let the others see their looks of matching angelic sarcasm. Kayden was the one who answered, “Our work is more of a volunteer effort that we do out of the good in our hearts for the benefit of mankind.” Rebecca, Lucy, and Shaun looked exasperated, amused, and as if they were used to this response. 

Turning to Adewale, Desmond commented, “Who says we’re from different areas? The only one with a noticeably different accent is Shaun.”

Rebecca decided that know would be a good time to pipe up, “Shaun, didn’t you say that we had to see the Arctic Corsair and Windsor Castle if we could? Along with finding a ship that is going to leave in a few days to a couple of weeks, that can defend or is obscure enough that it won’t be attacked by pirates, and aren’t as, you know.?”

“You mean more ships that are not super sketchy looking.” Supplied Desmond, head tilted down but his frown still evident as he fiddled with his collar as if he wanted to put it back up. Kayden, one of the few who had noticed this realized it was because of the looks Altair, Ezio, Edward, and Connor, although he at least was trying to be discreet about it, were sending towards him, specifically his mouth and the scar.

“Yeah, I would rather not be killed or robbed in my sleep by anyone, pirate or no, thank you very much.” Kayden added as she moved closer and slightly in front of Desmond so that she could act like a shield if he wanted her to. She was also looking through the streets, eyes glowing in the bright afternoon sun, activated her hawk gaze, although that was not known by the others, noting the locations of the nearby guards.

Staring at her, Shaun looked as if she had to be pulling his leg, as he commented, “I don’t think anyone could rob, kill, or sneak up on you in your sleep. Although now that I think about it, I’m not actually sure if you do sleep, or if you just go into a kind of meditative state while being completely aware of your surrounding. Both you and Desmond for that matter.” Finishing up his thought, Kayden looked confused as she knew that it was common knowledge, in their timeline anyway, that both her and Desmond loved their sleep.

“Are you saying that we may have paranoia, which is completely reasonable once you consider certain factors, and the fact that it has been very helpful in keeping us alive so far, is a bad thing?” inquired Desmond, tone full of mock shock, eyeing Shaun as if he were on something. “I’m fairly certain that that is the opposite of a problem.”

Shaun was about to respond when one Haytham Kenway politely coughed, drawing the attention of everyone, who all seemed to be transfixed or mesmerized by the five strangers, to him. Looking at the three ladies of the group, all of whom looked torn between long suffering, amused. and exasperated, the last two seemed to be the two most common emotions in the group, Haytham commented, “These two do this quite often I assume.” 

At their nods Haytham continued, ignoring Shaun’s look of stubborn pride, “While I would love to to know how this argument would end,” At Haytham’s sass Desmond was humble enough, compared to Shaun, to duck his head, albeit in embarrassment, and mouthed sorry. “I for one am much more interested in finding a ship, like you are, as well as someplace to stay until departure. A cafe for lunch sounds like an excellent idea, and perhaps, since we have already met and since we appear to have the same destination, at least on a general scale, we could all share a ship.” finished Haytham, having moved forward, but was still a respectful distance from Lucy.

Looking back at her group, they all silently communicated through facial expressions, gestures, and general body language. When Lucy turned back around she answered, “Perhaps it would be best for our groups to get to know each other in some manner before we decide to put ourselves on a ship for a few months before we reach our destinations.”

Nodding his head, Haytham turned to the side and waved his hand towards the road, “Then why don’t we walk?” Looking towards the others not apart of his and Lucy’s groups, “I’m sure that these people won’t mind if you join us. In fact, it might be a good idea for you anyway, considering most of you are foreigners.” offered Haytham before he started walking down the road, Lucy close behind, and the rest of their groups behind them. After looking at each other, the rest of the split groups decided to walk with them as well.

While Lucy and Haytham, who had now been joined by Malik Al-Sayf, Adewale, Achilles Davenport, Evie Frye, and Leonardo da Vinci, were all taking turns discussing the basic’s of each group, attempting to leave out any details about assassin or templar backgrounds, the modern assassin’s spread out to talk to the rest of the very large in group in their own, smaller, factions. Desmond ended up in between Ezio Auditore, who had moved to stand beside Altair Ibn-la’Ahad, and Edward Kenway, who was standing next to, his unknown grandson, Connor Kenway. Kayden walked in between Shay Cormac and Liam O’Brien, sensing the animosity between them. Shay was next to Otso Berg, and Liam was next to Hope Jensen. Rebecca had moved beside Aveline, who was next to Claudia Auditore, and Violet de Costa, who was next to Anne Bonny, and Mary Read. Meanwhile, Shaun immersed himself in a conversation with Henry Green, next to both Jacob Frye and Arno Dorian, who was next to Elise de la Serre.

“Well now piccolo angelo, why don’t you tell us about yourself?” Ezio asked, flashing his most charming smile at Desmond who, not only looked surprised, if his mouth falling open was taken into consideration, ducked his head slightly and moved a couple steps closer to Edward, who was laughing at the reaction.

“Um, that would definitely depend on what you would like to know.” answered Desmond warily, trying to keep a somewhat ‘safe’ distance between them, knowing that Ezio was bisexual and not wanting to cause any sort of scene, although he had suspicions as to what Ezio said, which he couldn’t mentally translate for some reason. Desmond sent a discreet look towards Kayden that said “help me!” which Kayden shrugged in reply to, meaning “you are on your own my friend.” and looked, not just amused much to Desmond’s chagrin, but also like she was desperately trying to hold back her laughter.

“Which part of the Americas are you from?” Liam asked suddenly, pulling Kayden out of her amused thought on how to tease Desmond about his situation when they returned home, especially how he was floundering around Ezio. “You don’t a prominent New York accent, but it’s slightly there. Meanwhile, your friends, specifically Desmond, have stronger New York accents.”

“Ah, yes. I have a habit of messing with my accent so that I sound as if I’m from various different places, hence the reason why I sound American, but only just. We all live in New York currently, but Desmond and I knew only each other before we assigned to the team.” Replied Kayden, unable to keep her mischievous smile under her control as she watched Desmond struggle.

“Really? I’m surprised I’ve never seen you in the cities, or heard of you and Desmond for that matter. Those fighting skills of yours would be something we would have heard about.” Hope commented, raising an eyebrow at Kayden in some emotion akin to suspicion.

“Yes, well, that is probably because we live and therefore work in different areas. Not to mention that we happen to enjoy travelling and do it as often as we can.” Kayden added, albeit slightly awkwardly in the beginning, and gave her best innocent smile, which did happen to be very convincing, before Rebecca butted into the conversation.

“Hey Kayden?” Snapping her focus to Rebecca, Kayden tilted her head to the right slightly, signally Rebecca to continue. “Do you remember where we were the time that one of the native tribes scared the bejeezus out of Shaun when they appeared?”

“I very distinctly remember laughing at Shaun when he fell on his ass in shock.” Desmond interjected, using the conversation as an escape from his very odd, and flirtatious, thank you Ezio, ancestors. Shaun, left his own conversation with Henry and Elise when he heard his name in the conversation, to glare daggers at Desmond.

“I know that we were in South America. I’m fairly certain that we were in Columbia specifically though,” Kayden said, answering Rebecca’s question before Shaun could interrupt, both of them knowing that speaking now would be the only way that Rebecca would get her answer.

Shaun, who had just enough patience to wait for Kayden to finish answering Rebecca, harshly asked Desmond, “Well, what would you have done in my stead? In fact, I’m fairly certain that you reacted in the same manner that I did, if my memory is correct, which it usually is.”

“If by same reaction you mean surprise and the immediate rush of adrenaline, fear, and the need for distance from something new, then, yeah, you would be right. I, however, did not jump five feet in the air, shriek like a child, and land on my ass.” Desmond shot back, smiling angelically at Shaun, who was glaring daggers at him. “And your memory is not always right. You have mistaken things from your memory before, and I’m sure we have on record somewhere.” The front pack had stopped moving and talking to each other in favor for turning around to listen to the argument behind them. Lucy looked both disappointed and exasperated at the boys antics. Kayden rolled her eyes so hard that if Rebecca made been paying attention or looking at her, she would have made a joke about Kayden making the world rotate and extra spin, and they both leaned to the side with their arms crossed.

In reality though, Kayden had indeed rolled her eyes, but she was also listening to Rebecca finish the story, while watching the moving crowds. Kayden’s gaze was drawn to a group of about twenty people who looked sketchy and were staring at her group with thinly veiled expressions of disgust. Switching on her hawk gaze, Kayden tuned out Rebecca till she was background noise, seeing the group in a pinkish red light. 

However, Kayden missed one man who ended up swaggering past her, the red glare forcing her to turn off her hawl gaze and close her eyes briefly to allow the spots to pass. The strange man sauntered towards Desmond who, upon hearing the mans heavy footfalls, turned to face him, only for the man to punch Desmond in face, brass knuckles reflecting the light as the assailants sleeve was pulled up enough to show them off. The blow landed hard enough to force Desmond’s head to snap back and his hood to fall off.

Before Kayden, whose eyes cleared up, could react to the aggression, Ezio and Malik went to Desmond’s side while Altair bolted forward so that he was in front of Desmond, and knocked the man onto his feet and into unconsciousness.

Rushing over to Desmond, who had been stubbornly refusing to move his hands from his face, even though he didn’t think the pain was extreme in anyway, impressive and a bit worrying, considering the roughly made brass knuckles, Kayden crouched in front of Desmond to block the others line of sight. Knowing that Desmond was keeping his hands up in an attempt to hold of the reveal of his face and similarities it had with; Altair’s, Ezio’s, and Connor’s faces, and the confusion that would end up stalling them; Rebecca, Shaun, and Lucy came to stand around the backside of Desmond. During this, Kayden helped Desmond keep his face turned towards the ground enough so that only she could see the damage done, giving Desmond the prompt he needed to remove his hands.

“Well, on the bright side, at least the bastard didn’t damage your face all that much.” Kayden commented. At Desmond’s look of incredulity, Kayden added, “What? I mean besides the fractured and possibly dislocated nose, the currently bruising left cheekbone, and the split lip, there’s no permanent damage. Which you really should be grateful for, considering the use of brass knuckles in that strange assault.” Turning his face up and to the right, away from Altair, Ezio and Connor, Desmond spat out some blood before gingerly touching his cheekbone, only to flinch and instinctively jerk his away when he did.

Ezio, who had had enough of being actively ignored, which clearly did not take long, produced a handkerchief for Desmond to use to wipe away the remaining blood from his mouth. Moving on instinct, Desmond turned his now visible face towards Ezio to take the cloth. Freezing in a mixture of shock and “Oh shit”, Desmond took the cloth like lighting and used it to cover up the lower part of his face. This did not stop Ezio from making a noise of surprise, Malik from looking shocked and intrigued, Altair from raising an eyebrow and moving closer to Desmond, Leonardo from grinning gleefully, and Connor from looking surprised and confused. Seeing the reactions, the rest of their larger group donned faces of curiosity and inched forward, stopping only because of Lucy’s ice cold glare, while Desmond grimaced behind the cloth.

“Meraviglioso!” Leonardo exclaimed, the first to say anything, grinning and rubbing his hands gleefully as he continued, “This is a truly wonderful and unique situation, wouldn’t you agree?!” Dumbly nodding their heads, Kayden and Desmond glanced at each other as they warily stood up, both taking a couple steps away from the very excited artist who was intently studying Desmond face. “And, even though the four of you have very similar faces, which is such a magnifico surprise for an artist and scientist as myself, you each have small differences and details that keep you recognizable and unique, such as your heights, skin tone, etc, etc.”

“So long as you don’t act like Altair when he was younger, which I see no evidence of you acting like in the future, then I believe we will get along just fine.” added Malik, as he studied Desmond’s face, and gave an elegant shrug while Altair crossed his arms and gave Malik an annoyed glare.

Desmond and Kayden glanced at each other again, before turning slightly to look at Lucy, Shaun, and Rebecca for any help. Seeming at a loss for words to interfere, Shaun spoke up, “Desmond, was this the main reason you were keeping your hood and collar up?”

“No Shaun, I thought that the style was a fantastic idea, even though it makes most people, me included, look either suspicious, and thus drawing the attention of the guards, something we don’t want to happen, or looking like a phenomenal douche.” Desmond replied, sarcasm dripping from every word and pouring off of his body, as he added, “Of course this was the main reason for that you bloody idiot.”

“Hang on.” Violet muttered, catching Berg attention, before she turned and faced Berg with a look of disbelief and surprise on her face as she gestured to Desmond and Kayden, “I’m almost 100% sure that those two are supposed to be dead. There seem to be just to many things about them that don’t add up, but, after connecting certain dots and similarities, it would make sense. I think those two are the Desmond and Kayden that were supposedly killed after contacting their Pieces of Eden. I really need to know how they are still alive.”

“Don’t ask them about it right now.” Berg said, keeping his voice low so that they wouldn’t be heard as Leonardo kept going back and forth between Desmond, Altair, and Ezio excitedly. “It wouldn’t be smart to make a scene now. We should wait until later, perhaps after forming a tentative alliance and then ask when we are sure they will tell us the truth.”

“This is a fascinating coincidence.” Achilles spoke up, “I would be very interested in hearing the details of how this is possible, Leonardo, so long as you would be to share them. Perhaps we could continue once we find a cafe to rest and fill our stomachs.”

“Might I make a suggestion that will make our conversations easier, more open and honest, and flow more?” Elise piped up, tone suggesting a sort of exasperated annoyance, “Let us stop pretending that we don’t know that we all belong to either the Templar or Assassin factions. We are all adults and are capable of having civil conversations even if we are on different sides and have our disagreements.”

Some of the group stared at Elise, clearly surprised at woman's bluntness when before she had only been polite and kind. There were, however, audible sighs of relief from some of the members, along with a blatant ‘thank god’ most likely from Desmond. All of the sudden conversations done, the group started walking again while looking for a large cafe, large enough to accommodate them all. During this, the former factions within the group started returning to their original sizes.

Desmond started to walk back towards Altair, Ezio, Edward, and Connor when he abruptly stopped, looked at Ezio for a couple seconds and then walked over to Kayden. Officially using her as a human shield from his very flirtatious ancestor. Kayden started laughing at him while Ezio looked shocked, and possibly hurt. That caused most of the group to started chuckling too. 

“You are going to start keeping human buffers between you and Ezio now, aren’t you Dezzy?” Kayden asked, rhetorically, through her subsiding laughter. However, Desmond’s surprisingly enthusiastic nodding caused Kayden to start laughing again and she linked their arms together to her balance while Desmond fought down a rising blush and pulled his hood up again.

“Oh Des you poor thing. I would feel sorry for you if I didn’t feel so amused by this situation.” Rebecca said, grin present as she kept her laughter down and walked backwards to face Desmond while hanging on to Aveline’s arm to keep her own balance. 

“Rebecca, don’t walk backwards or you’re likely to fall. Which would be a pity since you’re holding onto Lady Aveline’s arm and would drag her down with you.” Shaun cut in, causing Rebecca to give him an exasperated glare, Lucy to sigh, and Kayden and Desmond to gape at Shaun before glancing at each other and quickly covered their smirks.

“I never knew Shaun could say something that sounds like actual concern mixed with politeness. Especially directed towards someone he’s just met.” Kayden commented airily, as if mocking a whisper to Desmond, whose hood had fallen off and was working on stifling his laughter. This was proving to be a small challenge as Shaun looked irritated and was trying not to, unsuccessfully, glare at them.

Desmond, after being able to stop his rising laughter, stood straight up from behind Kayden, placed one hand on his chest, and the other on his hip before mimicking a perfect British accent with a side of dramatic, “You bloody moron, of course I can be polite and show concern for someone I have just met, especially a lady. After all, compared to you lot, I’m practically the bloody Queen of England.” All of this caused Shaun to look extremely exasperated and grumpy while the three ladies had to stop moving because they had started laughing so hard. As confused at the antics before them, a few of the others laughed along and some of them looked a bit impressed at Desmond's impersonation.

Lucy clapped her hands a couple times and took a couple gasps for breath as she straightened up and calmed herself down, “Oh good lord Desmond, that was damn fabulous! You know, you really should mimic people more often. It’s great for relieving stress.”

Beaming, Desmond responded with a shrug and lopsided smile, “Thank you for the compliment and suggestion Lucy, but I usually save impersonations for the job.”

“Or theatre, or kids,” Kayden added, while walking slightly toward those she had been talking to previously.

Pausing and giving Kayden an exasperated look combined with narrowed eyes, Desmond said, “Yes my dear friend, I mimic in the theatre and for kids as well.”

“Don’t give me that look Desmond. I’m just helping you fully explain how and when you tap into your theatrical side and mimic voices, tones, accents, etc.” Kayden replied with a tone torn between the innocent sister and the mocking sister who explained to the parents what their brother had done in full.

“You five are much more vibrant and colorful than one would expected upon first meeting you.” Achilles commented, keenly watching and cataloging the five, who were closer than they tried to appear.

“Ha ha, you say that now, but that is not always the case.” Desmond said, chuckling nervously, “And besides,” he started when Shaun huffed a look at Desmond and then continued for him.

“Considering our lives, our jobs, and what we do most of the time, there are times when we have to be this, as you said, vibrant.” huffed Shaun as he cleaned his glasses and looked only vaguely irritated.

“Not that I am disagreeing or anything, because both boys are correct, but,” started Kayden, looking at Rebecca who noticed and matched the look in Kaydens eyes as she continued.

“But it’s kind of funny and maybe just a little bit ironic that Shaun, out of all of us, is the one to say that. I mean, I would have thought that even Lucy, who’s practically the most serious out of the five of us, would have said that before Shaun. And she isn’t even serious 24/7, she actually takes breaks from it.” finished Rebecca as she chuckled with Desmond and Kayden at her comparison. Lucy was giving an ‘I want to be irritated at that but I can’t’ smile and Shaun just looked like he wanted to take a nap.

Desmond gently nudged Shaun before throwing his arm over Shaun’s shoulders and ruffled his hair, “You know we only tease you so much because of,” Desmond paused before gesturing to Shaun’s face, “That.”

“My face.” Shaun deadpanned, moving just out of Desmond’s reach, mostly because Desmond was already moving to let Shaun go, “Is the reason why you constantly torment me.”

“More accurately,” Kayden piped up from her spot in between Shay and Malik, a look of content amused on her face “Your reactions and facial expression are they reason why we tease you so.”

“I take it those were the words you were looking for but blanked on, huh Des?” Lucy asked as she smiled teasingly at Desmond who grinned sheepishly (and very cutely one might say) as he nodded and walked towards his gathered ancestors, using Connor as his human shield from Ezio this time.

“Yeah, but we know I’m not functioning properly, so things like that happen.” Desmond replied, smiling jokingly as the entire group set off for a comfortable place to sit and talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italian translations:  
> Piccolo angelo - little angel  
> Meraviglioso - wonderful
> 
>  
> 
> These translations were taken from Google Translate, so I apologize for anything that is mistranslated


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! I'm so sorry about how long I went without updating this. I forgot that this chapter was ready to go (the chapter numbers confused me). I have chapter 5 started and I'm hoping to get it up before school starts up again in January. All mistakes are mine as this is not Beta-d. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4 - at the Cafe

“We could always get food from the market and then find somewhere to eat,” Kayden commented after noticing the group had passed the fifth restaurant on the road without stopping to even check their menus.

“Nonsense,” Achilles replied, “I know there is a very good cafe coming up. It’s just down the road a little bit more, I’m sure of it.”

Desmond, who had been contentedly listening to Malik talk about various cultures, suddenly said. “Isn’t there the possibility that the cafe you are thinking of is someplace else or hasn’t been built yet.”

Pausing, Achilles turned and looked like he was possibly feeling miffed, “Why are you suggesting that young man? There is no need to be so impatient, so why are the two you?”

“We’re hungry,” the two said simultaneously and with deadpan expressions. Achilles looked like he was about to say something that might annoy the two, and so Edward decided to intervene.

“All right, let's avoid any fighting for the moment. Why don’t we just eat here?” he said, pointing at the nearest cafe before looking at Kayden and Desmond, “Is that alright with you two?”

Nodding, Kayden and Desmond quickly walked past everyone else and disappeared into the restaurant. Sharing looks of amusement and disbelief at their speed, everyone followed in time to hear Kayden ask for their biggest table, large enough to hold roughly 30 people.

The owner looked shocked before smiling widely and beckoning over two of the waiters* to move some tables together to fit them all before turning back to face Kayden, “Why we have not had such business in years. So, while I’m sure this was not your goal, thank you very much,” said the man as he led them over to the table and waited as they all sat down.

“Well, if we can help in any way, we usually try to, whether intentional or not, so you are welcome,” Desmond replied as Kayden smiled and nodded in agreement, even as she was making sure that everyone was at the table.

“If I may, why are so many of you fine folks gathering in this area of London?” asked the owner, the more country accent shining through, as one the waiters started taking orders on the other side of the table, “It’s not as if we are used to catering to the finer folks, especially such a large parties with such...variety.”

“We have certain mutual interests, need, and business proposals. But personal interests and curiosity probably contribute to the reason more,” Kayden answered and smirked as she saw Shaun roll his eyes at her answer.

“Well, I will to it that no one will bother you ma’am,” the owner said, his accent causing the word ma’am to sound like mom, causing a few muffled laughs. He smiled and turned to his employee’s and snapped his fingers, before bowing slightly and then left to help more customers.

Briefly looking at the menu, Kayden smiled at the waitress and started placing an order, “the two of us will just have 6 pieces of toast, 6 eggs, 8 slices of cheese, and 8 pieces of bacon or ham. Separated if it’s not to much trouble,” gesturing to Desmond, who nodded in agreement. Smiling, the waitress finished scribbling the order down and then quickly bustled away to the kitchen, as the two looked at everyone else. Though they did make sure to pointedly ignore the looks on their companions faces at how much they had ordered to eat.

“Well now,” Haytham started, drawing everyone’s attention to him, “Which topic shall we begin the discussion with? The differences of our two factions and ideals? Or the strangeness of our meeting here, outside of what one would consider the proper time?”

“Well,” Altair began, “I am certain we know enough about our opposing sides for the time being,” with a few of the others making a gesture or noise in agreement.

“Dear god yes. I do believe we know enough, and even if we didn’t, I certainly do not look forward to another monologue telling us how ignorant, wrong, and misguided we are with our futile ways of following the creed,” Jacob commented, causing a few of the assassins at the table, including Rebecca and Shaun, to cough, snort, and splutter in an attempt to stifle their laughter at his tone.

Swallowing his food, Desmond said, “I, for one, am very interested in hearing how all of you managed to get here, and if it is at all similar to how we,” he gestured with his hand to the other four by him, “got here too.”

Kayden followed his train of thought and added, “Then that could lead to all of us figuring out how to return to our homes.”

“I agree,” Malik said, “I would certainly like to make sure no one has destroyed my bureau while I have been here,” a point which Da Vinci, Hope, Evie, Lucy and Berg all nodded in agreement too.

Edward opened his mouth to speak when they heard a trumpet sound followed by a loud commotion on the main road coming from directly west towards them.

“Oh mon Dieu, what is it now?” sighed Arno as the entire table turned to look with a mixture of confusion and exasperation. The shouts of anger and disgruntlement from the street became louder and the table soon a banner in the middle of the amassing crowd.


End file.
